The effect of nitrogen implantation on resistive switching of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films

We report the effect of nitrogen implantation on the resistance switching of tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) films. Both unimplanted and implanted films show resistive switching, with a characteristic threshold voltage required to switch the films from the high-resistance to the low-resistance state. The switching voltages for the unimplanted films are between 7 and 10 V for ta-C films of thickness 15 to 40 nm. These are significantly reduced upon implantation by up to 60% when using an implantation dose ~3 × 1015 cm−2. We attribute this to increased sp2 bonding and clustering in the implanted films. This demonstrates the importance of sp2 clustering for resistive-switching in sp3-rich ta-C films. [Display omitted] •Resistive switching in t-aC films facilitated by nitrogen implantation.•First-SET, or forming, voltage reduced by up to 60% as a result of implantation.•Implantation induces increase in size and number of sp2 clusters.•sp2 clustering plays key role in resistive-switching of ta-C films.